Sometimes it Pays to Pay

I'm not one to jump right to hiring help for house things. I don't like to pay people to do things I can do myself. But you saw what our driveway looked like after the recent storms. There was just no way for me to do it. Or Roger. Or anyone who only had a shovel.

So I turned (on the suggestion of a friend) to Craig's List. I love Craig's List, but honestly, hadn't even thought about it for finding a person to come clean our driveway. I had called a couple of landscapers/plowers and they all told me that due to the overwhelming demand, if I didn't already have a contract they couldn't help me. (That's not very good for business, in my opinion, but I guess I am not in the business so I don't know.)

Anyway, today a guy name Greg came to our house and snowblowed, shoveled, and salted our driveway! It was glorious (to me) to stand at the window and watch as someone else cleared all that crazy snow. It would've taken me days at the rate I was able to do it on my own (one shovelful a day, approximately.)

In the end, he asked for $35 and I gladly handed him a check. It was great. And I'm so glad I did it.

(In case you are wondering... Roger was fully supportive of my decision to pay to have someone come. I guess he didn't really have a choice though, since I didn't tell him before the guy was already working. :-) I'm glad he didn't mind. I guess it can be a Valentine to each other!)

I'd also like to add, that I could see/hear at least 3 neighbors blowing their own driveways today. It makes me really sad to know that nobody has offered to help us. It is obvious (to anyone who regularly sees who is going and coming from our house, like neighbors...) that Roger is not here right now. His car was parked in the snow-filled driveway for a week and then moved to the street where it has been since Sunday. I've only left the house once since Sunday. Why wouldn't anyone offer to help us? If I had a snow blower and my neighbor was pregnant and had 2 little kids and her driveway wasn't shoveled, I'd help her. I'd have done it long before now. Did you know that when I was 7.5 months pregnant with Ian (visibly, obviously pregnant) we had a decent sized snowfall and I was out shoveling all by myself. My neighbor across the street blew off his whole driveway and then got in his car to go somewhere, he intentionally turned the wrong way and went around the cul-de-sac so he could stop in front of my driveway and say, "You know, You really shouldn't be shoveling in your condition." He never offered to help. He is 2 houses down from the lady who lets her dog dump in the end of our driveway any time she can.

I really don't like this neighborhood at all. Hopefully nobody looking to buy our house reads this.

Welcome home from Florida!

I took these pictures today. When we got home yesterday, the driveway was completely covered in snow. We shoveled the side Roger was able to shovel before he left (that only had a bout 8 inches in it) and did as much as we could do of the other side.

I'm seriously trying to find someone to plow the rest out for me. Know anyone?

We're supposed to get 6 more inches between today and tomorrow. I just can't imagine! There's noplace to PUT the snow when you're shoveling it!

And this is what our patio looks like:

You can make your bed

But then you have to lie in it.

Isn't that how it goes? Here's Ian on Sunday, with his Grandma Bishop. He decided he wanted to make a bed on the 2nd shelf up of our bookshelf in the living room. He laid there a good long time while she read him stories. We all thought he *might* fall asleep! He didn't but it was still really cute.





On New Years Eve, we had the best snowman-making snow! It was really heavy and wet, it stuck together really well. So, after we cleared off the driveway, Roger and Ian made a snowman. Ian calls all snowmen "Frosty" and he's been talking about Frosty in our front yard ever since.

Snow on Christmas Eve

First Snow of 2009-2010 winter

And we played in it.

A lot.

Well, Ian did anyway. Living in Pittsburgh we lack proper winter play attire. It is shameful, considering our roots. Ian is lucky to have Isaac, his 5 year old cousin, who lives in the snow belt and requires warm snow suits as a matter of survival. Isaac passes down his snow suits to Ian and when Ian is done we pass them back to Meadville for Asher. Ian is wearing one of Isaac's suits for the 2nd winter in a row, since he's sortof stalled out at 2T size. (Last winter he wasn't quite 2T, but this winter he's fitting it perfectly.) So we've got a warm fuzzy snow suit for Ian, even if he doesn't have any snow boots.

I just don't want to pay $25 each for 2 pairs of snow boots, when the reality of Pittsburgh is that they'd only be worn a couple of times. Even KMart is charging that much... ridiculous. Anyway, this post isn't about whining about the price of snow boots. Its about playing in the snow. I personally have an awesome pair of snow boots, which I plan to review on this blog very soon. If you're a woman and you live where it snows, or even just gets chilly, you need a pair of boots like mine. You definitely do.

Moving on.





^Aaron is wearing a Steiff snow suit. Daddy bought it for Ian in Germany last winter, but unfortunately it was a little too small and Ian didn't get to wear it much. It is fitting Aaron perfectly this winter, though! Cool!